Bunscoil Bhríde Fortnightly Bulletin – 12th January 2023

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Happy new year! We hope all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:

New staff: I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new teachers; Ms. Sarah Marrinan and Ms. Niamh Garrahy to our staff. Ms. Marrinan is teaching Fifth Class and Ms. Garrahy has joined our Special Education Team, working with Second and Third Classes.

Dates for the Diary for this term: All important events and dates for the diary for the remainder of the school year can be found by clicking on the calendar icon within the Aladdin Connect app. Please keep an eye on this calendar as events will be added throughout the year.

Stay Safe: Senior Infants, Second Class, Fourth Class and Sixth Class will begin the Stay Safe programme in the next fortnight and will continue with the programme over the coming weeks. I would like to remind you again about the importance of discussing the issues covered in class with your child at home. The lessons covered over the course of the programme are as follows: Feeling Safe and Unsafe, Bullying, Touches, Secrets and Telling and Strangers. More information about the programme can be obtained on the website; www.staysafe.ie

Relationships and Sexuality Education (R.S.E.): R.S.E. lessons have begun / will begin in all classes this week. You all received a letter via Aladdin on Monday and you will also receive a Home/School Links sheet detailing the content to be covered with your child’s class. It would be very helpful if you could discuss what is being learnt at school with your daughter(s) at home. Please feel free to contact the school with any queries you may have.

Enrolments for 2023/24: We are now enrolling for September. Closing date for enrolments to Junior Infants for the 2023/24 school year is Friday 10^th February. Application for Admission Forms will be distributed to the playschools / crèche in the town today and are available from Catríona’s office. They can also be downloaded from our school website. Completed forms, accompanied by the child’s original birth certificate (which will be copied and returned to parents) must be returned to the school no later than 10^th February.

Talk on Bats: I want to thank our Parents Association, who have sourced us a bat box, which has been placed on a tree to the rear of our school. Vanessa Mack, from the Rathangan Tidy Towns Committee will come to our school over the coming weeks to deliver talks on bats and the importance of bat conservation to some of our senior classes. She will begin with our two third classes on Monday next. I want to thank her for giving so generously of her time and expertise.

Basketball: Basketball coaching for our Fifth and Sixth Class pupils will resume today with Ms. Dineen and Ms. Gleeson. We have two matches coming up in the next fortnight, in which we will take on Castledermot N.S. in both at home and away matches. We wish the girls the very best of luck.

Football and Camogie: Football and camogie training with Ms. Frawley, Mr. O’Sullivan and Ms. Marrinan recommenced on Tuesday. The U-13 Cumann na mBunscol league will take place over the coming weeks. With the huge success of our U-11 team in term one, we are very excited about what the U-13 league will bring and wish the girls every success.

Credit Union Quiz: The Credit Union Schools Quiz will take place at the end of January. Date and venue to be confirmed. We have enjoyed great success in this competition over the last number of years. All pupils from Third to Sixth Class will take part in a quiz in the school next week to determine our teams. Please practise some quizzes (general knowledge questions) with your daughter in preparation.

Credit Union Art Competition: Mountmellick Credit Union have just contacted us to inform us of a number of further winners of the Credit Union art competition that we took part in during term one. Congratulations to the following prize-winners: Rachel Donegan, Muna Ara, Eve Dempsey, Lara Sheil, Lily Smullen, Anna Biechele, Sophie Mulligan Dower, Libby Reid Doherty, Aibhín Whelan, Meadbh Quinn, Holly Kelly, Sophoe Maher, Kate Flood, Claire Condren, Semilore Iyanda, Emily Waters, Rosie Donnelly, Quin Duffy, Radiant Yakubu, Hollie Fallon and Saoirse Harty. Representatives of the Credit Union will visit our school in the coming weeks to present trophies to our prize-winners and return their artwork.

School Self-evaluation: This year we are looking at wellbeing in our school as part of our school self-evaluation. We are eager to get the views of parents, firstly as to how Covid impacted upon your child(ren); their wellbeing, motivation to learn and engagement in learning and secondly, we wish to examine wellbeing in our school in more detail. To this effect, we have developed two surveys and would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to fill them out. They will be shared with all parents later today via the Aladdin app and by email. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Catholic Schools Week: This year Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated in our school from 30^th January to 3^rd February. This year’s theme is ‘Catholic Schools: Walking Together in Faith and Love’. Because we are a Catholic School, this is a very special week in our calendar and it will be celebrated in many different ways in each classroom.

Grandparents’ Day: On Wednesday 1^st February all grandparents are invited to visit their grandchildren’s classrooms. This invitation to grandparents affirms and values their place not only in the lives of their grandchildren, but in the community in general. This annual visit has become a highlight of Catholic Schools Week at Bunscoil Bhríde. Each class will entertain grandparents with poems, songs and stories. Grandparents are also invited to look at children’s artwork and we would encourage them to share their memories and stories with the children. We ask that no parents / guardians come into the school on Grandparents’ Day, except in circumstances where grandparents need assistance due to mobility issues / special needs. Please let us know in advance of any accommodations that need to be made for such grandparents. The Bunscoil Bhríde Parents’ Association have kindly volunteered to provide tea/coffee for the visiting grandparents in our school hall. This will hopefully facilitate some banter and reminiscing among our visitors. Any donation of baked goods for our grandparents would be greatly appreciated and can be dropped to the school on the morning of Grandparents’ Day. While we hope lots of grandparents will visit our school for Grandparents’ Day, we are very conscious of the fact that not all children have grandparents living and also that not all grandparents will be able to make it to our school. For this reason, there will be arrangements put in place in all classrooms for the sharing of available grandparents, so nobody will be left out. It will be a fun, warm and welcoming day for all grandparents.

Timetable for Grandparents’ Day

Wednesday February 1^st

Time	Class	Classroom
9am – 9.30am	Junior Infants – Ms. Ryan Jun & Sen Infants – Ms. Gleeson	Room 1 Room 2
9.30am – 10am	Senior Infants & 1^st Class – Ms. De Faoite 1^st Class – Ms. Dillon	Room 5 Room 6
10am – 10.30am	2^nd Class – Ms. Geraghty 3^rd Class – Ms. O’Connor	Room 4 Room 8 (upstairs)
10.45am – 11.15am	3^rd Class – Ms. Coughlan 4^th Class – Ms. Costello	Room 11 (upstairs) Room 10 (upstairs)
11.15am – 11.45am	4^th Class – Mr. O’Sullivan 5^th Class – Ms. Ruttledge	Room 9 (upstairs) Room 3
11.45am – 12.15pm	5^th & 6^th Class – Ms. Banks 6^th Class – Ms. Frawley	Room 12 (upstairs) Room 7 (upstairs)

Cycle Safety Training: Ms. Bank’s Fifth and Sixth Class and Ms. Frawley’s Sixth Class will take part in a seven-week block of cycle safety training, beginning on Monday 23^rd January. The course is aligned to Cycle Right, the National Standard for Cycle Safety Training in Ireland, and is delivered by qualified trainers from the national register. As we are a Green School, An Taisce are heavily subsidising the course, with pupils asked to pay €5 by Friday 20^th January via e-payments on the Aladdin app. At the end of the course, each pupil will receive a digital certificate of participation.

Oral Language: The theme for the month of January is ‘Questioning’. All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that you, the parents, support us at home, by encouraging your child to pose fully-formed questions and ensuring that they have knowledge of and make use of all the question words (What? Why? Where? When? Who? How? etc.). We would also encourage you to discuss with them what they’ve learnt in school on this topic.

Christmas Jumper Day for Sr. Celine: A total of €377.60 was raised from our Christmas Jumper Day before the holidays, which will go directly to Sr. Celine Conway’s Brazilian Fund. I would like to sincerely thank all who supported this fundraiser.

Names on Uniforms: Please ensure that your child’s name is clearly marked on her uniform and tracksuit jumper.

Late Arrivals/Early Departures and Absences: Children arriving late to school or leaving early must be signed in/out by an adult. This can be done on Aladdin Connect. If your child is arriving late to school, please accompany her to the front door of the school. All absences must be explained. This can be done by selecting the reason for absence on Aladdin Connect. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please contact the school if you are having any issues with using the Aladdin Connect app.

Coming to school: Reminder – we are not responsible for children before 8.50am. You are asked to drop your child(ren) to school as close to 8.50am as possible. The gate will open at 8.40am and we will provide supervision (and shelter on wet mornings) from 8.40am. There is no supervision or shelter for children before 8.40am and we would ask that you do not drop them off outside the school gates before this time.

Kind regards,

Maria Rogerson